Virginia Wilderness Additions Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 247 To designate additions to the Rough Mountain Wilderness and the Rich Hole Wilderness of the George Washington National Forest, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 28, 2019 Mr. KAINE (for himself and Mr. WARNER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To designate additions to the Rough Mountain Wilderness and the Rich Hole Wilderness of the George Washington National Forest, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Virginia Wilderness 4 Additions Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S247.IS S247 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 247 IS SEC. 2. ADDITIONS TO ROUGH MOUNTAIN AND RICH HOLE 1 WILDERNESSES. 2 Section 1 of Public Law 100–326 (16 U.S.C. 1132 3 note; 102 Stat. 584; 114 Stat. 2057; 123 Stat. 1002) is 4 amended by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(21) ROUGH MOUNTAIN ADDITION.—Certain 6 land in the George Washington National Forest 7 comprising approximately 1,000 acres, as generally 8 depicted as the ‘Rough Mountain Addition’ on the 9 map entitled ‘GEORGE WASHINGTON NA- 10 TIONAL FOREST – South half – Alternative I – 11 Selected Alternative Management Prescriptions – 12 Land and Resources Management Plan Final Envi- 13 ronmental Impact Statement’ and dated March 4, 14 2014, which is incorporated in the Rough Mountain 15 Wilderness Area designated by paragraph (1). 16 ‘‘(22) RICH HOLE ADDITION.— 17 ‘‘(A) DESIGNATION.—Certain land in the 18 George Washington National Forest comprising 19 approximately 4,600 acres, as generally de- 20 picted as the ‘Rich Hole Addition’ on the map 21 entitled ‘GEORGE WASHINGTON NA- 22 TIONAL FOREST – South half – Alternative 23 I – Selected Alternative Management Prescrip- 24 tions – Land and Resources Management Plan 25 Final Environmental Impact Statement’ and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S247.IS S247 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 247 IS dated March 4, 2014, which shall be incor- 1 porated in the Rich Hole Wilderness Area des- 2 ignated by paragraph (2) on the earlier of— 3 ‘‘(i) the date on which the Secretary 4 of Agriculture publishes in the Federal 5 Register notice that the activities per- 6 mitted under subparagraph (C) have been 7 completed; and 8 ‘‘(ii) the date that is 2 years after the 9 date of enactment of the Virginia Wilder- 10 ness Additions Act of 2019. 11 ‘‘(B) MANAGEMENT.—Except as provided 12 in subparagraph (C), the Secretary shall man- 13 age the wilderness area designated under sub- 14 paragraph (A) in accordance with the Wilder- 15 ness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.). 16 ‘‘(C) WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AC- 17 TIVITIES.— 18 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—To enhance nat- 19 ural ecosystems within the Rich Hole Addi- 20 tion by implementing certain activities to 21 improve water quality and aquatic passage, 22 as described in the Forest Service docu- 23 ment entitled ‘Decision Notice for the 24 Lower Cowpasture Restoration and Man- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S247.IS S247 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 247 IS agement Project’ and dated December 1 2015, the Secretary of Agriculture may use 2 motorized equipment and mechanized 3 transport in the Rich Hole Addition under 4 subparagraph (A) until the date on which 5 the Rich Hole Addition is incorporated into 6 the Rich Hole Wilderness under that sub- 7 paragraph. 8 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENT.—In carrying out 9 clause (i), the Secretary of Agriculture, to 10 the maximum extent practicable, shall use 11 the minimum tool or administrative prac- 12 tice necessary to carry out that clause with 13 the least amount of adverse impact on wil- 14 derness character and resources.’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S247.IS S247 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS